THE OPEN BOAT: Across the Pacific THE OPEN BOAT

199 Pages·2007·3.87 MB·English

THE OPEN BOAT:
Across the Pacific
THE OPEN BOAT

by WAecbrbo Cssh tihlees P acific by

'W•Norton & Company New York ·
W.W. Norton & Company New York London

In reading this fo r the first time in a quarter century, I am struck by how much the South Pacific has changed in
the intervening y ears. I have returned to most of these places many times since 1979-80, and have been in

French Polynesia, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand within the past three years. Places where I seldom saw another

person or automo bile are now crowded. Papeete is a disaster; and the problems I mention between native Fijians
and Indians have resulted in three military coups. And of course prices which I once thought outlandish now

seem laughably low.

The islands are s till worth visiting, and some places, such as Opua, New Zealand, I like even more now than
then.

What hasn’t chan ged is the experience of the sea.

I have made only the most minor of changes in the text from the printed version: a few changes of verb tense

and the elminatio n of an excess word here and there.

Webb Chiles

April 29, 2007
Copyright © 1982 by Webb Chiles
Published simultaneously in Canada by George J. McLeod Limited, Toronto.
Printed in the United States of America
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Chiles, Webb.
The open boat: Across the Pacific
1. Chiles, Webb. 2. Pacific Ocean. I. Title.
G53o.C4773 1982 910'. 09164 81-14014
ISBN O-393-O3268-X AACR2
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. 10110
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd. 37 Great Russell Street, London WCiB 3NU

12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
To Suzanne
Contents

1. Farewell 17
2. To the Marquesas 18
3. On the Eve of His Execution 34
4. Typee Revisited 41
5. The Last Six Miles 48
6. Papeete 79 61
7. Once More, with Feeling 71
8. Fayaway Found 81
9. Crazy in Paradise 86
10. Slow Sail to the Evening Star 97
11. Tonga, Butterflies, and Bats 105
12. An Appointment with Captain Bligh 119
13. Fiji 128
14. How the Other Half Lives 137
15. Night Watch 147
16. A Change of Season 156
17. A Single Wave 167
18. Adrift 176
19. Over the Reef 185
20. To Win the Big Sea 194
Charts

1. San Diego—Emae Island endpaper
2. Nuku Hiva 32
3. Through the Tuamotus 50
4. Around Tahiti I 54
5. Around Tahiti II 69
6. Huahine to Mapiti 89
7. Vavau 108
8. Vavau—Suva 117
9. Suva—Emae Island 166
10. Emae Island 200
Line drawing of Chidiock Tichborne
AAcckknnoowwleleddggmeemnetsnts

Many people in many countries have shown me friendship and kind-
ness. Although I cannot mention them all, I thank them all, and
particularly the following: Ralph and Martha Saylor; Robert Reed;
Howard and Susan Wormsley; Terry Russell; Dave Brewster; A. Barry
Jones; Neal Esterly; Alex and Michelle duPrel; Hugo Wehner; Stephan
and Jackie Itchner; Trevor and Brenda Dunn; Mel Eden; Gene and
Kathy Taatjes; Fred Timakata; Kalo Manaroto; James and Mary Mcln-
tosh; Dean and Anna Ellis; Al Jenney of Boston Whaler; Voyageurs;
Luke Churchouse and Rich Hufïnagle and the men who build Dras-
combe boats, for their honest workmanship.
Parts of this book have appeared in Sail; Cruising World; Sea; the
San Diego Evening Tribune; Voiles (France); Yachting World (En-
gland); Modern Boating (Australia); and Sea Spray (New Zealand).

In San Diego I recited the following to those who came to see me leave:
My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,
My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,
My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
And all my good is but vain hope of gain;
The day is past, and yet I saw no sun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
My tale was heard and yet it was not told,
My fruit is fallen, yet my leaves are green,
My youth is spent and yet I am not old,
I saw the world and yet I was not seen;
My thread is cut and yet it is not spun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
I sought my death and found it in my womb,
I looked for life and saw it was a shade,
I trod the earth and knew it was my tomb,
And now I die, and now I was but made;
My glass is full, and now my glass is run,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
—Chidiock Tichbome, l558?--1586
judge a man, then, by that
against which he must strive
against what
if not this soft night
and the wind and sea
against the myth
he must become
and his own will
the ocean waits
to measure or to slay me
the ocean waits
and I will sail
—Webb Chiles
From my reading since then I would add:
No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.
—Aristotle
We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty
disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!
—Bilbo Baggins, Hobbit
First sail. In San Diego before departure. —s. CHILES